Before Anwyn could absorb the sudden sexual charge saturating the atmosphere, Gideon broke the hold with an oath and a short, vicious jab to Daegan"s mouth that drew blood. He flipped over and tried to make it to his feet, but the vampire had him pinned again, this time on his stomach, his knee in his lower back. Though he leaned down to whisper in Gideon"s ear, Daegan was still clearly audible to her.

“You think I will tolerate suicide from you any more than I would from her, vampire hunter? You seek death when you cannot face life, when you cannot face who you are, what you are becoming. You"ve never been a coward, Gideon. Don"t start now.” Bring me a set of restraints, Anwyn.

It startled her, but she covered her reaction, retrieving what he wanted from the playroom, a pair of padded yet extremely strong cuffs. When Gideon saw her, he started to struggle.

“No,” he snarled. “Don"t.”

He was no match for Daegan in this position. The vampire yanked Gideon"s hands up over his head and locked his wrists together. Then he hooked the restraints to a bolt in the floor that was used for the pulley weights in the room. Gideon continued to fight, but his arms were caught above his head, his body trapped on his stomach since Daegan was squatting on top of him, using Gideon"s ass as a seat.

“You cannot run; you cannot deny yourself; you can only give in to me.” She shouldn"t be surprised that Daegan had so clearly recognized what barbed conflict had been tearing Gideon up these past few days, and had chosen to address it in a combative way like this, male to male. However, Daegan was also angry. As she had been angry, realizing Gideon was determined that he was simply a way station for her, one that she might sacrifice without a second thought.

Daegan, this may be what his body wants, but it’s tearing him apart. On something like this, you have to go easy.

He is strong, stubborn. And his need to come to grips with this is as vital and necessary as anything else we are facing. Time is too short. But she felt the mental pause, emotion struggling with the honor and integrity she knew ran so deep inside of him. So deep he had let her hate him to do what needed to be done, those long weeks of transition.

Help me, cher . Make sure I don’t push him too far.

He was already pushing far beyond what Gideon believed he wanted. It took a very careful, very adept, Master or Mistress to get a slave to expand his boundaries like this without rupturing emotional scars into full, festering wounds. When their eyes met, she gave Daegan a slight nod.

“Son of a bitch. Let me go.” Gideon spat it, pulled at the manacles in an impressive show of strength. He tried to buck Daegan off, but the vampire held firm. He flattened his palms on the flexing muscle as Gideon swore, then moved down to the waistband of the loose gi pants Gideon had borrowed. When Gideon bucked again, Daegan slid an arm under him, held his hips up to yank at the drawstring, bring the pants down to reveal the bare ass, strip them off his muscular legs.

“No. No. I don"t want this.”

Daegan reached beneath, closed his hand on Gideon"s hard cock, so large and stiff it made Anwyn swallow. A throbbing ache started in her own sex, watching them.

“I can tell.”

“It doesn"t mean shit and you know it. I don"t want this. Now, cut it the hell out.” He was panicking, his image of himself colliding with what his body wanted, his heart rate accelerating at the destruction of his identity, an identity that had been fragile for too long, explaining why he"d kept it behind such ironclad shields. But Daegan could tear away iron as if it were paper. Gideon needed her.

When she rose, Daegan held up a hand. Pure, cool command was in his gaze. It settled a different feeling over the room, one that even Gideon recognized, for he briefly stopped struggling, his eyes darting between them both.

“When I am inside him, you will take him, cher. This time, he will accept me first.”

“Fuck you,” Gideon snarled, though his hips could not help jerking, pushing into Daegan"s sure grip around his cock.

“That"s a privilege you haven"t earned, servant.” Daegan stood then, putting his foot on his back to hold him there. Loosening the drawstring on his own pants, he shoved them down, kicked them aside. Gideon squeezed his eyes shut, but in his mind, Anwyn saw it was because he was denying himself the temptation of looking.

You don’t want to look at another guy’s dick. You don’t. That was what he was telling himself. But he did. Partly for self-preservation, a warrior"s natural inclination to evaluate the size and force of the weapon that was going to be used against him. Partly for other reasons.

Daegan didn"t yet want her physically near, but she understood how she could help. Gideon, listen to me. You’re being cruel to yourself, only because Daegan’s touch is arousing you.

You’ve told yourself that it’s because we’ve been in sexual situations, the three of us, intense situations, and it’s just overflow from how you feel toward me. But the truth is something far different. As long as you’re afraid of it, you won’t know the truth. This can take you a step closer to the truth, whatever it is. You have to trust us. Can you do that?” You can read my mind. Why the hell do you ask me anything?

You know why.

They were both naked to her appreciative gaze. Daegan sent her another mental command, and she returned with a lubricant. Daegan reached out, keeping her a few feet away from her servant as he took the items. He caressed her fingers, though, giving her a look that was part reassurance, part male predator.

When he turned back to Gideon, it was as if the dense energy gathering in the room had made everything slow down. As she folded her legs gracefully beneath her, seating herself close to them, Anwyn watched Daegan pour the lubricant over his hand. He thoroughly saturated it before he slid a palm over Gideon"s left buttock. It left a glistening wide band of oil there, as he worked his way toward the tightly clenched seam. “Loosen up, Gideon, or this will be more painful than you want it to be.”

“If you"re going to fuck my ass, it"s going to be agony no matter what. Stop.” It burst out of him as Daegan touched his rim with oil-slicked fingers. “Anwyn, Mistress . . . I don"t want this.”

She met his furious, panicked gaze as his head jerked toward her. Your mind says you do, Gideon. All three of us know it.

Pushing his face into the floor, blocking them both out, he gave a long, agonized growl of anguish that twisted her heart. She was a Domme, she knew Daegan was right, but this was harder than she expected. Though her body was on fire, her pulse rate up, her pussy soaked, watching what was about to happen, she couldn"t ignore the emotional battle going on in him.

Let me at least do the lubricant, Daegan. Soothe him with my touch.

No. There’s a reason I do this, Anwyn. He might be asked to submit to worse in Berlin. If he can’t handle this, then he’ll know he can’t go with you.

It stunned her enough to bring her up short. Son of a bitch. When the expletive came to mind automatically, she knew Gideon was influencing her language. Daegan gave her a significant glance, a bare nod.

He"d let her snarl at him, let her believe that he"d accepted Gideon"s decision. And perhaps he had, but it didn"t mean he didn"t have a plan to test the hell out of it. One of these days, she was going to teach Daegan Rei to give her some inkling of his strategy before he implemented it.

Of course, even if she"d missed that, she wasn"t thrown off enough to see that there was more going on here than a public service. She"d seen Daegan"s anger and reaction to Gideon"s challenge. As a vampire and Dominant both, she understood a predator"s nature better. What was happening now made her see that duality in Daegan pretty damn clearly.

You want to be the first male to claim his ass. He’ll be yours first, before any of them.

His dark eyes met hers again, and his sensual lips curled, showing a hint of fang. Then he turned his attention back to Gideon. He"d poured lubricant in the other palm and brought Gideon"s hips off the ground to close it around Gideon"s cock. As he slid his grip along it, the organ grew longer and thicker.

“No,” Gideon whispered. His eyes were closed, and she saw fluid leak out of the tip of the organ, a convulsive shudder taking his powerful body.

Shifting to squat next to him, Daegan clasped a handful of Gideon"s hair and pulled his head up. Gideon"s eyes opened, and he tried to yank back, but Daegan"s grip held him in place. The vampire hunter looked like he might spit at his captor, but then thought better of it. Daegan nodded, acknowledging the wisdom. In this position, Daegan"s cock was almost under his chin. Gideon"s gaze was almost tearing in his effort not to look at the fully erect organ brushing Daegan"s belly, the weight of his testicles hanging beneath, the powerful thigh muscles that would help him thrust into Gideon"s ass.

The knuckles of Daegan"s other hand slid down Gideon"s throat, caressing the taut windpipe, then lower, passing oily fingers over the trinity mark over his heart, earning a hard shudder. “You may not believe it,” he murmured, “but the day will come, vampire hunter, when you will beg for my cock in your mouth. Anwyn will be fucking you from behind with one of her strap-ons, a clit stimulator bringing her to climax so you hear her cries, feel the spasm of her pussy vibrate through the rubber cock she"ll have in your ass. All that will matter to you is our mutual pleasure. Whatever serves our pleasure will serve your own.” Anwyn drew in a breath, for it was the second time he"d acknowledged what she already suspected, that Gideon should belong to them both, serving a Master and Mistress. But first that last bastion had to fall, and it wasn"t being fucked. It was letting a male vampire feed off him, subjugate him to his blood needs. That was what would shatter the last part of Gideon and the life he"d led, because male vampires had always been his target. It was a male vampire who"d killed Laura.

This was perilously close to shattering him now, and it worried her.

We will take care of your tough vampire hunter; never fear, cher . His soul may be fragile, but he is also stronger than you realize. Remember, when he first came to you, you thought he might need the hand of both a Master and Mistress, a male energy to confront his temper and anger and kick his ass when needed.